


Holohigh

by SumDumMuffin



Category: Hololive, Hololive En, holoMyth
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Tsunderes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27886996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SumDumMuffin/pseuds/SumDumMuffin
Summary: Takamori Vignettes around an AU where Hololive is a performing arts high school.
Relationships: Mori Calliope/Takanashi Kiara
Comments: 77
Kudos: 381





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> [#TAKAMORI](https://twitter.com/hashtag/TAKAMORI?src=hashtag_click&f=live)
> 
> I guarantee no expertise in, high school, romance, performing arts, or grammar. 
> 
> This Au is, they’re all in high school, but its a _Monster Prom_ type high school where they’re all over 18 so they can drink and also they're all mythological creatures, inexplicably attending a performing arts high school together so they can have pedestrian drama with each other. 
> 
> Alright, so!: Is it weird to write- as in, to attribute emotions, opinions, and relationships to for the purpose of entertainment- to vtubers?
> 
> You could say, real person fanfics are a thing that are regularly legally defended by the Organization for Transformative Works, so in any case, it's okay to write about your favorite streamers having barely contained romantic feelings for each other. 
> 
> But that's not really a satisfying answer: the nuance of vtubers is that there is a degree of performance to their personas, even though the characters are basically 99% the streamer's default personality and lived experiences. Colloquially, if you tried to claim that the character and the streamer were completely separate entities, most people wouldn't buy it.
> 
> On the other hand, though, one reason Vtubers are popular lately is that their parent company owns all the rights to the character that the human behind the capture software is acting out, so legally, they're in the same space as TV and cartoon characters, and just their actor and character writer are the same person, with the character being inspired by autobiographical events in the same way that a lot of fiction is. (Also, PSA on making sure that if you're buying merch of your favorite one that their contract stipulates that they get a cut of the proceeds because that's going to be on a per-contract basis.)
> 
> The real answer is probably that this will vary by individual. This will read as shipping real people to some people, and that can seem weird, and that's fine. But also, both Calliope and Kiara have broken character nonzero times to confirm that they're not doing anything in their kayfabe they're uncomfortable with, so even if you take the RPF interpretation it should be okay to ship them. I'm aiming to write them in terms of their personas rather than the streamer's personalities, and I am trying to be cognizant of the ways this can be weird, and if you want to stop reading at any point that's valid.

“I’m not complaining about the curriculum or management in general," Calliope Mori said to a blond girl in her grade and also in her talent program, “But like, are they just expecting us to be able to become friends on our own?” 

“Well, there’s normally a decent chance that some of us will already know each other. I managed to befriend Ina real quick over some online games,” Amelia Watson swirled her cup of tea, “And Gura’s already made a name for herself, so it’s not like she’s a complete stranger. It is nice to meet you, by the way.” She tipped her deerstalker hat. 

Callie nodded. “I feel the same.” 

And then she couldn’t think of anything else to break the ice with. Amelia nodded her head at her, but on second thought it might have just been her vibing to the cafe music. 

And Callie fiddled with the piece of shortcake she’d ordered, and the cup of tea she’d already downed. Technically, it wasn’t really required to be friends with the other 4 students in her year who’d been selected for Holohigh’s special talent program, but usually, you ended up working together a lot so it was efficient to become friends with each other as quickly as possible, and Callie was a pretty friendly person, so this should be easy.

And thankfully, at that point, a ring of a bell heralded a dark-haired girl with tentacle side bangs walking into the cafe- Ina’nis, from what Callie could deduce, because Gura was already a singing sensation at their school so her doofy shark face was on posters and stuff around school. 

“Hey again!" Amelia waved. Callie rose her palm up slightly, to nonchalantly indicate she acknowledged Ina’nis’s presence. Ina nodded back at her. 

“Just so you know,” said Ina, to Amelia, as she sat down, “I practiced _Smash Bros_ with my sister for the last three days so I’m ready to give you the chance to finally win whenever you want.” 

Amelia leaned her head back and to the side. “Last time didn't count! You cheated I had laaaaaaag.” 

And then the cafe entrance bell rang again and a short shark-girl walked in. “I thought I heard a tell-tale whine. It's lag this time, Ame?” Gura said. She sat down next to Amelia and smirked. 

Amelia folded her arms and gave a cheeky grin in return to Gura Gawr. “Oh? I _didn’t_ see you coming in because you’re so _small_! Heh heh heh,” Amelia shot back. 

And as the conversation went on without her, and Callie wondered, if she should maybe try to add something to the conversation, but she mostly played other kinds of video games, so would it be weird to derail the conversation and oops, now they were talking about Apex Legends, which she didn't play so she had literally nothing to contribute- 

  
  
  
“Kikkeriki!” yelled an all too familiar voice. 

“Ah,” Callie said. She brought her hand to her forehead as a tall sunset-haired phoenix wearing two hats entered the cafe, with her right arm raised up and her eyes closed in a happy expression. “Hello my new friends!”

She walked up to their table and took the closest girl’s hand in her own- in this case, Amelia’s. “Ame, I checked out your work doing the editing for last year's class video! It was really good!”

“Checked me out huh?” Amelia’s eyes narrowed slightly as she smiled. “But yeah, thanks-”

“And Ina- your paintings for the art club are seriously amazing!” 

Ina'nis nodded. “Thank you. You mentioned you draw too? We might have to do a project together sometime.” 

“Sure! And of course, Gura, ahh~” Kiara put her hand over her heart, “Everyone’s favorite banjo-playing country shark singer.” 

Gura smiled a big toothy smile and closed her eyes and touched her collarbone. “That’s-a me!” 

“And of course, there’s you, Callie~” Kiara said, and she smiled at her with the whole of her face. 

“Yeah yeah,” Callie waved the air- 

Amelia smiled, “Ohhhh, Calliope has been mum about herself this whole time. Do you know what she does?”

And annoyingly, Kiara visibly brightened up. “Oh! Callie is the _whole_ package,” she said. She pontificated with her hands in a way that didn’t add clarity to her statements, “She is _so_ talented at so many things, on top of being sexy as all hell~” 

Callie scrunched her mouth to the side. “Okay okay-” 

Kiara made hype-man gestures in the direction of Callie. “She can draw and sing and animate and I just found out that she is a god at rapping!” Kiara pulled out her phone, “I secretly recorded her doing some Eminem raps, and I listen to it every night-” 

Callie blinked. “Wait, what?”

Kiara looked at Callie and tilted her head to the side. “Don’t you remember last week, when you saw I was recruited too and you invited me to dinner and then karaoke?” 

“Oh?” Gura grinned, widely. 

Callie scrunched her mouth to the side. “Of course I remember doing that- I was talking about you secretly recording me.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, you were really good,” Kiara found the video and Callie's voice started belting out of the glowing rectangle. 

Callie reflexively covered her face, “Please don’t show them that-”

Kiara, for her credit, turned off the video immediately. 

“So you two already know each other, huh?” Amelia said. She was also grinning. 

Callie tried to answer first. “Since elementary school, actually-”

Kiara waved the air theatrically. “We are soulmates bound from the beginning of eternity-” 

“That's-" Callie tried to say, "-not even remotely close to being true, hate to break it to you-” 

Kiara covered the side of her mouth and leaned closer to the other three, “Don’t mind her- my wife has always been really shy about our relationship-"

Callie choked on her own saliva. “Guh- what- we’re not married!” 

Kiara laughed a throaty laugh that sort of sounded like she was hiccuping, which Callie knew was because Kiara had osmosed it from one of their senpais, “Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑ If you say so~” 

“Seriously, don’t- don’t give them the wrong idea about us,” Callie closed her eyes and folded her arms. “We’re just friends.” 

"Oh, we are much more than that~" 

“No, we have been over this,” Callie said, “We will always have fundamentally incompatible values, and we have different life goals so a relationship between us just wouldn’t work out-”

Ina’s eyes widened and her mouth curled into a grin. “So you’ve given this some thought?” 

“I- guess I have,” Callie said, “Because it's obvious, and also I keep needing to explain it-” 

“Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑,” Kiara laughed, “Oh, don’t mind her, she’s really shy~ “ 

"Can we change the subject, please?" Callie said. 

"Anyway,” Gura said. She turned to the phoenix, “You never mentioned what it is you do, Kiara.” 

“Oh, I,” Kiara rubbed the back of her head and her enthusiasm damped, just a bit. Callie couldn’t help thinking that was a little, “I do a smattering of different things, but I guess I was selected because I always try my best and I try to make people smile!” 

Callie took a breath. "Don’t sell yourself short Kusotori,” Callie said, “You’re really talented yourself, you know.” 

Kiara glanced at the floor. “Well, maybe I’m decent at singing, but a lot of people are…” 

“You’re also trilingual,” Callie said, “That’s a serious achievement." 

Kiara made a grimace, “It’s not really a performance art, though….” 

“It can be, if you want it to,” Callie said, “But even if you don’t want to count that, you can still have a whole lot to be proud of.” 

“Awwww,” Amelia said. Gura also smiled and Ina’s eyes widened again. 

"You're so nice to me, Callie~" Kiara said.

“No, I'm just, stating facts here,” Callie said, “We wouldn’t have gotten into the program if we weren’t talented, and that includes you.” She scrunched her mouth at the wall and tried to ignore the inexplicable lump in her throat. 

“You’re so sweet, my wife~” Kiara helped her arms out for a hug and puckered her lips for a smooch-

Callie pulled her forearms up to shield herself. “Guh- no, stop that!”   
  
And to Kiara's credit, she did. But the damage was already done, and Callie would have to spend the rest of the year trying to convince Ina, Gura, and Amelia that she didn't like Kiara.   
  
  


* * *

  
  


"You know, I haven't ever had crushes on girls before," Kiara said, one day. 

"Wait, really?" Calliope said. 

Class wouldn't start for another 3 minutes, and Kiara had taken this opportunity, once again, to go talk to her (apparently first female) crush. She was sitting on Callie’s desk, in a way that maybe she thought was seductive but which Callie just found annoying, and not just because there was less room on her desk to actually do school-work.

Kiara fluttered her eyelashes. "I guess that just means, Callie, that you're particularly sexy~" 

"Ehhhh?" Callie sunk into her shoulders and made a grimace out the window. Kiara was always saying weird stuff like that. 

Callie cleared her throat. "I mean, you're always gushing about our senpais, so I kind of figured that at least some of those were crushes?” 

Kiara waved the air. “Oh, no- for them all, I just admire them greatly.” Kiara nodded. 

"Of course, I admire you too, Callie,” Kiara said. She reached out her hand, to place it on Callie’s hand. “But with you, it’s, how do you say,” she smirked, “Exclusively gay~” 

“Ehhhhhhhhhh-” Callie said. 

* * *

"Oh hey, you look nice today," Amelia said when she got to her desk a few minutes after Callie did. 

Calliope noted that she was happy to get that compliment. See, she had maybe, just, put on all of her goth accessories today, and also done her hair up- and those were all normal things she did. Admittedly, usually not, all of them at the same time, but it wasn’t like she was wearing anything she hadn’t worn before. 

So, yeah, maybe she was maybe fishing for compliments in general. 

“Thank you, Ame,” Callie said. She ran her hand through her hair. "It’s just, just, figured I'd go all out today..."

As the rest of the students trickled in, Callie subtly glanced over each of them, on the eye out for a head with orange hair and two hats-

“Kiara’s sick today,” Ina said, as she sat down. 

“I- what?” Callie said. 

“You were looking for her, right?” Ina said. 

“I- _Nooo~_ ” Callie coughed and willed her cheeks not to redden. “It's just, she always bothersome, and it takes me off guard a lot, so I wanted to be on guard for it today.” 

Ina and Amelia shared a smug look. 

“Well, we can take a picture of you to send to her,” Amelia said. 

“I- why would you do that?” Callie said. 

At this point, Gura had arrived at her desk and put her books down, “Oh, you know, because you secretly care about her very much.” 

“What? No~” Callie said. Her treacherous blood vessels were “DId Kiara tell you that? Because she is definitely not being accurate-” 

Gura, Amelia, and Ina shared smug looks. 

“You know what, whatever,” Callie said, “You can believe what you want.” 

“Soooo,” Amelia smirked, “You wouldn’t mind if we took a picture to send to her for you?” 

“I, suppose, not….” Callie said. She coughed. “But lemme get into better light, before you do.” 

  
  
  


And a few minutes later, Kiara texted Callie (And yeah, they had each other’s numbers, what of it? It was normal to have a classmate’s cell number.), and it, may have brightened up Callie’s day, whatever.

* * *

Callie stared at the apartment door for a minute, just, holding the homework she was bringing to her oldest, frenemy-type acquaintance. 

A part of her felt a little guilty at not having texted ahead or anything. Callie knew that Kiara wouldn't mind if it was her showing up announced, though, and another part of Callie felt guilty for taking advantage of that. 

But the sun was setting and there was no sense in wasting time so Callie hit the buzzer on the door to alert whoever was inside to her presence. 

"Um," Callie said, into the speaker, and immediately there was a stomping sound from inside the apartment-

And the door opened and Kiara was there, in her pajamas and a chicken-patterned blanket, her face slightly red but her expression still beaming the way it always did when she was looking at the reaper. "Callie~"

"Hey, so, um," Callie hefted the stack of papers in her hands, "I'm here to give you your homework for today?” 

"Awww," Kiara beamed at her, "You did that for me~?" 

Callie nodded. “Yes. I just said so.” 

"Thank you so much!” Kiara took the papers, “You're such a dutiful wife~" 

"I- we're _not_ married," Callie huffed.

And once again, Kaira ignored her. 

"Well,” Kiara nodded twice, “I should get back to bed- It was really nice to see you today-" and her eyes notably scanned up and down the entirely of Callies body, "And you do look super cute today! When Ame sent me that picture of you I was just- ah, what a sexy chick!”

Callie suppressed a cough. "I, am happy to get the compliment." She nodded, twice. 

Kiara beamed at her with one last longing smile. "Alright, you take care now."

And the door started closing-

"Wait!" Callie said, reflexively. 

And Kiara paused. She tilted her head out and looked at her, expectantly, and Callie realized what she had said. 

Calliope looked at the sunset. "Um." 

"Is there anything else?" Kiara said. 

"W-well, it's rude to just, make someone come to deliver your homework to you, without inviting them in," Callie managed to say. 

Kiara smirked insufferably, "Well, I'm sick, so I wouldn't want you to be too, so I’d be best to just send you on your way, right?” 

Gallie scrunched her mouth to the side. "I guess that's true....”

"But if you insist on staying for a quick cup of tea or something," Kiara continued, and her smile turned into a smirk, "I would have to say yes, wouldn't I?" 

Callie scrunched her mouth to the other side. "I guess, that's, also true...."

"But you haven't said anything of the sort," Kiara said. She started closing the door again, "So, hopefully, I'll be feeling better enough tomorrow to see you in school!" 

“Ah-” Callie said, and this time her hand darted out. 

Kiara lidded her eyes through the crack in the door. “If there’s anything you need to say to me, you should do it now~.” 

Callie inhaled again and then exhaled, and she felt the color rise in her cheeks. 

“C’mon,” Callie whispered, “Don’t make me do this….” 

“Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑,” Kiara laughed, “You really should be more honest with your feelings, Calliope,” 

“I-” Callie said. She took a deep breath and made a grimace with her teeth and cleared her throat. 

“We’re not married. And we never will be, and you’re really annoying sometimes, but I also don’t,” Callie pontificated with her hands in a way that didn’t add clarity to her statements, “Dislike the time we spend together, and…"

Kiara waited, expectantly. 

Callie attempted to make eye contact and failed. “I missed you today.” 

Kiara made an annoying sighing sound. 

Callie cleared her throat. “And- I think it might be, nice to come in for some tea, and to talk?” 

Kiara had her hands clutched over her heart. “Awww- of course, my wife.” She stepped aside

“Guh- I _just said_ that we’re not- whatever.” 


	2. Shy Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on that time Kiara insisted she was actually really shy. The second part of her answer was about how that meant Callie would have to make the first move in their relationship, which will likely come up in a later chapter.

“You know, I’m actually very shy,” Kiara said, when asked. 

Amelia, Gura, and Ina shared consecutive incredulous glances between each other. 

It was at school, right after lunch but before classes were supposed to start. She was sitting on Callie’s desk again because her wife hadn’t actually asked her to stop in all the times she’d done it, probably because Callie enjoyed checking her out~

“I mean it!” Kiara said. She tilted her whole body to the side. “I'm a very shy girl- oh, hello again, Marine-sempai!” 

Kiara waved at the relevant upperclasswoman who just walked past them in the halls. Marine waved back and then blew a kiss, which Kiara pantomimed catching and keeping in her pocket. 

Amelia, Gura, and Ina shared a second round of consecutive, incredulous glances between each other. 

"I mean, being outgoing has always been something I've had to work on," Kiara said, “I’ve always felt I’m too timid to be the kind of person I want to be.” 

"Ah, interesting,” Amelia fiddled with her magnifying glass, “So since you always feel you're too shy, you're continuously practicing being outgoing until you’re actually better at it than most people?” 

“Well,” Kiara made a grimace and rubbed the back of her head, “I wouldn’t say I’m better than most people, but I do try to work on it.” 

Amelia nodded. “Yeah, I get that. You know, a surprisingly short time ago, I wasn’t good at talking to people, or expressing myself, or even basic hygiene,” she said, “So take it from me that you can actually make a lot of progress really fast when you put your mind to it." 

“Don’t worry,” Gura elbowed Amelia, “The first step to being good at something is being really, really bad at it, hygiene included.”

Amelia opened her mouth and turned to Gura and narrowed her eyes. “Quiet, you.” 

And when Callie arrived in the door to class- looking right at Kiara at first, before turning away and puffing out her cheek adorably and looking away until she got to her chair. 

“You’re on my desk again, Kusotori,” Callie said. 

Kiara reclined slightly and lifted her leg up, “This is true.” She smiled as warmly as she could. 

Callie smushed her lips around for three seconds before she spoke. “Whatever.” 

Kiara scotched a little, to give her wife a little more room at the desk. 

“Anyway, how do you rate on the shyness scale, Callie?” Amelia said. “Ina and I are introverts, and Gura's been able to rely on being cute to carry her through all her social interactions so far." 

Gura chuckled. "Hey now." 

Ina nodded. “Humu,” she muttered, to signal that she was paying attention, just not talking. 

Callie then looked up into Kiara’s eyes. “You think you’re shy, Kusotori?” she asked. 

“Why does everyone react that way?” Kiara said. She touched her collarbone. “I’m a shy girl, you know!” 

Callie then joined Ina, Gura, and Ame in sharing incredulous glances between each other. 

“Anyway,” Callie said, “If you’re shy, then I must be a real wallflower. I kind of rely on you in social situations.” 

“Oh?” Gura grinned, widely. 

"Yeah,” And then Callie looked right into Kiara’s eyes, her beautiful pink orbs shimmering in the afternoon light. “I actually really admire that about you.” 

Kiara’s heart leaped against her ribcage and her breath caught and she fell in love with her reaper wife all over again. “Oh, Callie~” 

And she leaned in for an embrace as a chorus of ‘ooo’s eminated from their other friends-

“Gah- Kiara wait-,” Callie flailed in her chair- “this is a really bad angle to do this-” 


	3. Arm Wrestling

“Okay, this is a little sad, actually,” Kiara said. 

“It’s not fair, you’re cheating!” Amelia grunted. She moved slightly to accommodate Ina, which also simultaneously meant she pushed down on Gura’s head. 

Kiara laughed. “Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑, if anyone’s cheating it's you guys,” Kiara said. “Arm wrestling definitely wasn’t designed for one against three.” 

Gura, Ina, and Amelia shifted positions to try to each get a better grip on Kiara’s hand. 

“My hands getting sweaty,” Gura said. 

“Palm Spaghetti,” Amelia responded, reflexively, “Yeah, it’s getting pretty gross having to touch you like this.” 

Gura smushed her mouth together in bemusement. “Shut up.” 

Ina furrowed her brow in concentration. “I think we can just call this a loss?” 

“Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑ Well you haven’t lost juuuust yet,” Kiara said. 

“Yeah, because you’re you’re _totally_ cheating!” Ame grunted, “Your elbow is at too much of an angle, you have more leverage." 

“Well, if you insist,” Kiara shifted the position of her elbow closer to the center of the table. 

“Oh, oh,” Kiara said, as her hand slowly shifted closer to the table under the combined maximum effort of three giant nerds, “Oh damn, look at you all go!” 

“Ah ha!” Amelia exclaimed, as Gura started cheering and Ina’s expression softened-

And then Kiara reversed course, and inexorably, inevitably, won the arm-wrestling contest. 

“Nooooooo-” Amelia called out as they officially lost. Gura wiped her hand on her hoodie. Ina sighed and shook her head. 

Kiara laughed. “Well, I guess this means you all need to work out more.” 

“Oof, I think that’s already more exercise than I usually do in a day,” Ina said. She rubbed her shoulder. 

“Yeah,” Gura said. She turned to the priestess, “Do you ever just, look out the window and think, ‘Yeah, that’s close enough to going outside for today.'?”

Ina nodded. “Humu. Sometimes I open it, too, to get fresh air.” 

Kiara clicked her mouth and shook her head. “Tsk tsk tsk. How do you plan on passing physical education?” she teased. 

“Oh, artists and singers are exempt from taking physical education,” Gura said. "Not sure what Ame's excuse is." 

“Hey! Technically, _everyone_ is exempt, since you’re only required to do _any_ activity.” Amelia folded her arms and closed her eyes in triumph. “And AV club counts.” 

“Which is a really sad thing!” Kiara said, “There’s so much fun you can do moving your body!” 

“Ehhhhh,” Ina, Gura, and Amelia said, simultaneously, but in slightly different ways. 

“Besides, what if we want to do a group dance concert?” Kiara said, “And the sports festival! You three still intend to participate in that, right?” 

“I thought I might just commentate it,” Amelia said. 

“Hey, I started doing yoga,” Gura said. She folded her arms and closed her eyes. “I downloaded the app. That’s the first step.” 

  
  
  
  


Callie entered the classroom.

“Oh!” Callie! Callie Callie Callie-” Kiara waved. 

“I hear you,” Callie said, “And also see you.”

“And also sense her?” Amelia said, “Because of your eternal soul-bond?” 

Ina nodded. 

“What- no we don’t have one of those, because we’re not together, and never have been,” Callie said, “This is slander.” 

“No no, we totally do-” Kiara said. 

Callie tilted her head back and to the side. “Slander, I say.”

“Anyway, how athletic would you say you are, Callie?” Gura said. 

“Well, I'm still giving scythe swinging lessons in my spare time,” Callie said, “So that keeps me active.”

“So do you think you could take Kiara?” Gura said. 

Callie immediately tensed. “Take, her? You mean, like, in a rap battle, right? I definitely don’t know any other connotations of that word-” 

Kiara waved the air. “Oh, you would totally win that sort of competition. No, we were just arm-wrestling.” She smiled. “I won!” 

“Oh hey, congrats!” Callie said. 

“But you probably don’t want to arm-wrestle Kiara,” Amelia narrowed her eyes and grinned, “It would involve holding hands, which is kind of lewd, just a heads up.” 

“Whaaa,” Kiara brought her hand to her mouth, “Holding hands isn’t lewd.” 

“It’s, a little lewd,” Ina said. 

“Whaaaaaaa,” Kaira said again, but at a higher pitch, “But we just arm wrestled!" 

"Well, in our case it was more, the three of us awkwardly trying to grab at your hand," Amelia said. 

"And Callie and I have held hands before," Kiara said, "Does that mean we’ve been lewd in public before!?” 

Callie choked on her own spit, “What? No we haven’t-” 

Kiara smirked, “Don’t you remember? Two years ago during the class trip-” 

“Oh F-word, that’s right-” Callie flailed the air between, “But that was entirely for platonic reasons-” 

“Actually- and don’t take this the wrong way Kusotori-” Callied glanced at Kiara before turning to the other three, “But I’m with her in that it's not lewd to hold hands in order to arm-wrestle.” 

"I seeeee,” Amelia said. She and Gura took a step back so Ina could stand up out of the seat across from Kiara. “So do you think you’re up for it?” 

Callie hesitated for only a half second before she sat down and held her hand out. “Sure. Let's go.” 

Kiara looked at Callie’s hand, and then at her own, and then she cupped her own face and blushed, slightly-

“This is only weird if you make it weird,” Callie said. She glanced aside. “So don’t make it weird. Please.” 

Kiara took a breath and Callie’s hand. “Okay.” 

And after Ina finished counting down, Kiara’s hand lurched halfway to victory, and Callie suddenly had to try harder. 

“What the Fu-Eff,” Callie grunted, “When did you get strong?” 

“Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑ You didn’t know this about me, Callie?” Kiara fluttered her eyelids, “I’m a part-time warrior, don’t you know?” 

“Ohh, I guess this means you’re gonna lose, Callie,” Amelia said. 

Callie smushed her mouth together. “No I’m not.” 

And then Calliope looked up into Kiara’s face, and she bit her lower lip, “You look cute today, Kiara.” 

And then Kiara's eyes widened and her face reddened and her mouth fell open into a smile-

And Callie immediately slammed her hand onto the table. 

And then Gura, Ina, and Amelia cheered and high-fived Calliope. (Callie would later learn it wasn’t because she won the arm wrestling contest.) 

“Okay, I know I always accuse everyone of cheating,” Amelia said, “But _that_ was definitely cheating.” 

Kiara touched her cheek and closed her eyes. “I’ll allow it.” 


	4. Dying your hair to impress your middle school crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like, Kiara and Callie's Kayfabe involves them knowing each other for millions of years, but Kiara will occasionally talk about her first impression of Callie and how meeting her for the first time went, so I think the synthesis of these ideas is, knowing someone for a long time (and maybe crushing on them from afar) but then falling in love more once you get to know them. 
> 
> Inspired by, that time Kiara came up with ideas for what a hololive middle school would look like, and she figured she'd be the kind of person to become a Scene kid to impress Callie.

  
Callie eventually adapted to the new school year in general, the Holohigh talent program in specific, and to Kiara in the next degree of specificness. Well, they’d known each other for a long time, but they’d gotten to know each other a lot more, in, like, a professional capacity. 

“You know, it’s, nice,” Callie said, to her new friend group, one day, “That I have people to talk to and to hang out and stuff, now.” 

“Oh?” Amelia said, “Were you a loner back in middle school?” 

Kiara held up her thumb and pointer finger. “Just a little.” 

“I mean, I didn’t, have, close friends or anything,” Callie said. She shrugged, to show that she was all fine with herself and all. “It was fine, just, going on trips alone, and doing projects alone and all. But this is a welcome change, and I want you all to know that, I,” She quickly glanced away from Kiara, “Appreciate all of you.” 

And of course, Kiara took it as some sort of like, undying declaration of love or something. 

“That’s so sweet, my wife~” 

“I’m not your wife-” Callie pushed Kiara’s face away from her, but she figured the hugs weren’t, bad. Kiara was warm- it came with being a phoenix- and she was strong enough that there was a nice solid sort of heft to her hugs, and also she was only a little shorter than Callie was, so being hugged by her was, just, logistically, very comfortable. 

“You’re very special to me, too, Callie~” Kaira said, unfazed, and apparently verbally unencumbered by the hands squishing her mouth. “Girls look, Callie’s having a tsundere moment~” 

“Aww,” Amelia said. She grinned with her teeth showing. “Isn’t Callie just a big softie~~

Ina’s and she pulled out her notebook, which she had steadily been becoming less subtle about over the past couple weeks. 

“I- what does that even mean?” Callie said.

“Oh, ‘Tsundere’,” Kiara said. “That’s you.” She smiled, insufferably. 

Ina nodded. “It's true.” 

“I- is it?” Callie asked. 

“I would say so too, just from my admittedly limited knowledge of Japanese,” Gura said. 

Amelia nodded along. “I guess I’ll take the word of the consensus.” 

Callie opened her mouth. “It- you don’t exactly have the best track record of being accurate about me, Kusotori.” 

“Oh?” Ina turned to Kiara. “Do you have a history of dishonesty with Calliope?” 

“Whhhaattt~?” Kiara winked and stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, “Not since- well, not since middle school, really.” 

Ina turned to Callie, “Yeah, you said you were friends with Kiara back in elementary school?” 

“Well, we weren’t, friends, no,” Callie said. “She was way more annoying back then, too.” 

“Callie was also way more edgy,” Kiara said. 

“We were like,” Callie pontificated, “Mortal enemies.”

“You mean,” Ina grinned, “Im-mortal enemies?”

“Ha↑ Ha↑ Ha↑, yes!” Kiara said. She nodded. “We first met when Callie tattled on me, and then we both got sent to the principle’s office.” 

“You thought you didn’t have to obey the rules!” Callie said. 

Kiara touched her hand to her collarbones. “I am a majestic phoenix! I am destined to soar above the mortals, and their rules.” 

“She did get better, though,” Callie said. 

“But Callie got worse: In middle school, she was the cool loner chick who didn’t talk to anyone,” Kiara said. 

“I-” Callie puffed out her cheek and looked at the wall, “I talked to some people…” 

“And she wore way more goth accessories than she does now.” 

“Hey, it took me a while to refine my taste,” Callie said. 

Kiara leaned over to Gura and whispered, “Yeah, that’s why she’s so affectionate with me, now~”

“I- no! No I’m not!” Callie said, “And if I'm okay with you hugging me now, if anything its because your hair isn’t filled with weird dye.” 

:And possibly my hair care regime," Kiara then smiled, as if it wasn’t embarrassing, “You know, the only reason I dyed my hair back then was to try to impress you~” 

“Well, your normal hair color is much-” Callie stopped herself before she said something that Kiara would take the wrong way again- “It’s really nice. It looks like a sunset.” 

Kiara ran her slender fingers through her hair all bashful and stuff. “Oh, you think so?” 

“I like it, actually,” Calliope said, and then quickly “Because I like sunsets. No other reason.” 

Kiara smiled. “Of course.” 


	5. Drawing Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callie and Kiara draw each other.

“Well, you can make dark pacts with antediluvian deities that wriggle and writhe in blasphemous abandon in the shadows of the glimpses of the untold, tenebrous depths,” Ina nodded twice. “Your soul will be filled with cyclopean madness and your mind will be as the black sands upon the banks of the river of eternity, but your desires will be sated.” 

“Wow wow wow!” Kiara said, “You know,  _ my _ hair-care secret is to wash my hair with gravy.” 

“Is that why you always smell so good?” Gura asked. 

“Good, or possibly just, tasty,” Calliope mumbled. 

Kiara smiled at their shark friend. “It's certainly one of the reasons~” 

“Anyway, Ina,” Amelia said. “So how did you get your drawing ability, then? Same way?”

“Oh no, just from hard work,” Ina said. She nodded. “There’s no substitute. But you can also try to emulate your favorite artists, and practice drawing shapes, aannnnnd- oh, and familiarizing yourself with your tools, too. That can save a lot of time that you can then spend on practicing more.” She nodded again.

“Anywaaaay-” Ina said. She presented her sheet of paper to her friends and to universal acclaim, “I drew all of us, posed around the front of the school.” 

“Wooaah!" Gura said. "Well, I drew Watson, with her tennis racket,” She presented her drawing, and it was recognizable- the feet weren’t symmetric but the face was a good chibi face, and she was holding a recognizable rendition of a tennis racket that couldn't just be mistaken for a magnifying glass except with extra lines on it. 

“Hey!” Amelia hefted her magnifying glass, “It’s not a tennis racket!”

Gura, Kiara, and Ina chuckled. Callie but her fist to her mouth to hide her smile.

“Well _I_ ,” Amelia scrunched her mouth at her paper, “Also tried to draw all of us, but we all just look kind of the same, and- we're totally all wearing clothes, I just didn't get that far-"

“That’s still good though!” Kiara said. “And you’ll get better with practice. " 

“Yeah!” Gura said, “You might even be able to submit something for Ina’s art compilation.”

"Only if you want to," Ina said. 

“Hmm,” Amelia scrunched her mouth to the side and visibly cogitated. “Anway, Kiara, what’d you draw?”

And they all turned to Kiara, and Kiara turned to Calliope. “I drew you, Callie, my wife, in your wedding dress~!” 

“I'm not your wife-” Callie looked down at Kiara’s drawing-

And it was actually a pretty good rendition of her, and a gothic wedding gown. Like, her veil was exactly the same, which was wrong because she was wearing a death veil, not a wedding one (so if she was actually getting married it'd look different from what Kusotori drew). “But, yes. Thank you. It looks good,” She stated, gruffly. 

“I, um, drew myself,” Callie looked down at her own drawing, which was of herself, which, she noted, was, maybe a little, narcissistic? She didn’t feel confident in drawing all five of them during the timeframe, and she obviously knew what she looked like more than any of her compatriots, but nobody else had drawn just themself- “But I can also draw you too, Kusotori-” 

And Callie quickly sketched down a little doodle of a chicken, and then showed the paper to Kiara. 

And Kiara gasped and covered her mouth. “Whaaaa- how could you _do_ that?”

Ina and Gura laughed. Amelia smirked. 

“I mean, hey,” Callie shrugged and let a wry smile curl over her mouth, “I think it looks like you.” 

“I am a majestic phoenix!” Kiara said, aghast. “You should know that about me, by now?” 

Ina made an ‘ohhh’ sound and turned to Calliope. 

“I mean,” Callie said, “I still sometimes can't’ tell the difference-”

And Kiara’s frown intensified, and Callie's chest constricted, reflexively, since usually, Kiara would just take the little snipes in stride=

And she waited for Kusotori to smile and laugh it off, or just move on- 

And then the bell to class started, and Kiara returned to her seat, a few rows ahead and to the right of her. 

  
  
  
  


And as class went on and Kiara didn’t ever turn her head back to smile or wave or blow an obnoxious kiss at Calliope, the reaper started to worry that maybe she had gone too far, this time.

Callie pulled her phone out of her pocket, and went to her contact lists down to the K’s, and she typed out an apology.

I'm sorry I called you a chicken. You really are majestic.-

And she put her phone away and focused on classwork for about a whole 12 seconds before she saw Kiara pull out her phone, and look at it, and then thumb furiously at it- 

And Callie checked her phone just to, like, look up the weather, and- 

She had no new texts.    
  
And furthermore, over the next thirty seconds of messing around, opening and closing her different apps, the little texting notification at the top never showed up. 

And, okay, like, she wasn’t expecting any texts or anything. She had other stuff to do, you know. 

And over the next few hours of class, Calliope kept finding herself looking at the back of Kiara’s head, noticing that Kiara also appeared to have other things to do- particularly, things that involved thumbing at her phone. 

Class ended without Callie receiving some long paragraph of sequences of messages, or DMs or anything, so it was either a really long message or something else, which was also fine. And once the bell rang, and Kiara stood up and stretched and started to turn to the back corner of the classroom -

But then Matsuri-sempai showed up at the door into the hallway, 

And Kiara yelled out and ran up to her and they started talking. Kiara laughed her signature laugh but otherwise, Callie couldn’t hear what they were talking about. 

And Matsuri put her hands in Kiara’s, idly, as they talked, and that was lewd so Callie turned her head away- 

And a few minutes later, Kiara and Matsuri-sempai were gone, and it was time to leave the classroom. 

  
  
  


So Calliope went to her usual spot in the school library to work on stuff for the last hour and a half before school ended. The five of them were still in that time frame where they’d try to eat dinner together as much as possible, but Callie hoped to clear the air with Kusotori before they were all supposed to meet together-

And she sat down at a table in the corner and pulled out her laptop and notepad and textbook and papers and Instead of doing anything productive, her brain decided to replay the events of that afternoon in her head- 

Like, Kiara was always down on herself (And it actually was kind of weird that someone so talented was so insecure about herself), and Callie tried to do her best to remind, so maybe she featured this was some sort of betrayal, that Callie just suddenly insulted her when normally Callie was so good at being in her corner- 

Calliope checked her phone idly for a completely legitimate reason, and she didn’t have any texts. 

And since she finished her actual schoolwork in class, she started trying to work on her performance stuff. 

Calliope pulled out a sheet of paper and decided to try working on drawing again. 

And after she practiced drawing shapes and working on her lines for a while, Callie found herself doodling, idly, to the subject her brain was thinking the most about-

She drew the slope of her cheek, first, and then the eyes, and then a figure sketch of the whole body that she started filling in the curves and clothes of off and on-

But she couldn't’ get the smile quite right, so she left it as a line, for the time being-

And obviously, with just a pencil, Callie couldn’t capture the color of Kiara’s sunset hair when she drew the flowing locks around her head, and the lovely feathers that hung down behind her ears-

And she wrote something a little emo, to fill in some of the white space she left in from drawing the picture too far to the left on the page- 

  
  
  
  
  


And then the library door slammed open. 

“Callie~” Kiara’s voice came out. 

The librarian uttered a ‘shush’, and Kiara feigned embarrassment, with a wink. 

And Callie stood up, reflexively, and then realize that may have made her look desperate so she sat back down, but that was also kind of rude so she stood back up but slower-

“Hey, I’m sorry I had to rush out-” Kiara said once ran over, “Matsuri-sempai wanted me to work on something with her, so of course I said yes!” She clutched her heart and looked into the middle distance. “She’s so cute- but I say that about every one of our senpais,” Kiara looked aside, “I wonder what karmic deed I did in a past life to be spending all day surrounded by such cute girls in this one- Especially you, Callie!” 

Then Kiara blinked, and she looked down to see that when she placed her, they were still there-

Callie pulled her hands back and pretended she needed to check her phone. “I mean, you deserve to feel happy in this life, regardless of… whatever….” 

Callie became really focused on her phone, and she opened her texting screen directly- 

To see that she actually never sent her original apology. She felt heat rise in her face. 

She quickly deleted the words there, and then she coughed and looked to the wall. “

“Pretty good!” Kiara then smirked, smugly, “You’re not jealous that I’m hanging out with Matsuri-sempai, are you?” 

“No, of course not,” Callie said. 

“Here, I’ll give you a make-up hug~” Kiara held her arms out. 

“GUH- stop that!” And while Callie did their usual side-stepping dance to avoid physical contact, Kiara took note of the drawing on the paper on Callie’s desk.

“Oh, what’s-” And Kiara gasped. “Did you draw me!??” 

The librarian uttered another ‘shush’, but Kiara didn’t even react. She was too busy holding up Callie’s drawing to the light and 

“Wow wow wow, this is so good!” Kiara turned to her and smiled, “You’re so talented Callie~” 

“I-” Callie coughed. “Thank you for the compliment. I appreciate it.” 

And then Kiara looked back at the page and her face softened into a warm smile. She inhaled and her eyes lidded, and then she 

“Awwww did you miss me?” Kiara said.

“Wha- nooo~” Callie waved her arms in front of her.

“But you wrote ‘searching in the darkness in the world for a smile- there’s you” on this-”

“I- that’s the name of the art, Kiara,” Callie said. She took the opportunity to pluck the paper out of Kiara’s hands. 

“You named it?” Kiara said. She tilted her head to the side. “Why would you name a doodle-- Oh! are you going to submit this to Ina’s art compilation?” 

“I -” Callie opened her mouth, and shut it, and then cleared her throat. “Yes,” She said with confidence, and she swiped the drawing back. “That, is exactly it.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


OMAKE from the Future

  
  


“Calliope-sempai!” one of her their new Kohais said, “Did you really draw Kiara-sempai as your first art submission?” 

Callie grimaced at the wall. “Um. If I said it was a joke that went too far?” 

The Kohai in question inhaled through her smirk. 

Callie’s expression flattened. “We’re not married.”

“Sure! Sure sure sure.” 


	6. Here you have it instead, my love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not having a lunch date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, I'm still not in the habit of updating every day, and since about 2-5 Takamori scenes get generated each day on average means the hill is growing faster than I'm pushing the boulder up it, but on the other hand that's Camus' definition of happiness, so I can't complain.

Kiara tried to hold Callie’s hand, as they walked along the boulevard into the restaurant part of town, but Callie wasn’t having any of it. They’d pass other friend groups - and other couples, Kiara noted, with a latent, internal sense of jealousy that she made sure to quash- into the walking part of town where all the restaurants and hangouts were. 

“Alright, where do we want to eat?” Gura said 

“How aboouut,” Ina smiled, “Taco Bell?” 

Callie, Kiara, Amelia, and Gura turned to Ina, silently, glaring. 

Ina smushed her mouth and retreated into her shoulder's, slightly. 

Gura burst out laughing. She slapped her thigh and doubled over, and Ina chuckled, awkwardly.

“Hey,” the shark said, “Food is food. I’m up for taco bell if everyone else is?" 

Amelia shrugged. “I dunno, we have the opportunity to eat anywhere in town. We could even just go to the supermarket to get groceries to cook something." 

“Ooo, that sounds cool!” Ina said. She looked down at her stomach, “But another time, when we can plan ahead, because I’m hungry now, and you shouldn’t go food shopping when you’re hungry.” 

Gura nodded. “Makes sense. I’m always hungry, though, so that's not really applicable advice for me."

Amelia pulled out her phone, and she smiled, “Buuuut, I also found this app that tells us about novelty stores that will give us discounts if we post about it on social media if you’re famous enough, and since we’re all members of an exclusive performance art program at a prestigious school, we enough of minor celebrities to automatically qualify. Says so on the app." 

“Oh oh!” Kiara said, "That's really shrewd of you, Ame!" 

Amelia narrowed her eyes as she smiled in self-satisfaction. “I happen to be preeeety good at investigating, you know.” She started scrolling through her phone, “Anyway, there’s, a lot of them, so maybe we can narrow it down by category? Is there any food any of you don't want?" 

“I’m not too picky, but I don’t like spicy food,” Callie said. 

“Oh my god Callie, we're meant to be together!” Kiara jumped up and down on the tips of her feet, “I don’t like spicy food either!" 

“What? How does that make sense?” Callie said, 

Amelia chuckled, "Yeah, how does that translate?"  
  
Callie folded her arms. “If anything, it would be the opposite.” 

Kiara tilted her head to the side. "Oh, yeah?" 

Calliope pontificated in a way that didn’t add clarity to her statement. “Like, if some of my food is spicy, I’d go ‘here, you have it instead, my love,’ and then I'd scoop it up and lean over the table to feed it to you-" 

Ina’s mouth opened in a grin. 

Callie folded her arms and looked to the side, “And that way, you don’t have to worry about what you order, since you can always just trade off what you don't want to each other-" 

Callie then noticed the look Gura, Ame, and especially Ina were giving her, and her cheeks flushed slightly in that all-too adorable way. "BUT IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, because Kusotori and I aren't together, and also we both like and dislike the same kinds of food." 

Kiara nodded. "Yeah, we both order the same kinds of Yakiniku." 

“And we both hate coffee,” Callie said. 

Ina gave her a look, and Kiara smiled back. 

Ina cleared her throat and turned to Callie. “So you’ve thought a lot about dinner dates, huh?”

“I mean, food is a big part of life. You kind of have to do food every day,” Callie said, “And if you’re close with someone you probably want to, share meals with them. I dunno, it could be romantic, whatever.” She became really interested in a nearby brick wall. 

Kiara nodded. “This is true! And getting different food can be an adventure in itself, that you can share with the people you care about!” 

Gura closed her eyes and rubbed her chin and nodded, sagely. "Indeed." 

"Oh, oh," Amelia said, to her phone, "This place looks cute! And it's giving away a free glass of wine with this deal thingy." 

"Oooo," Gura said. 

"Yeah, that sounds good- Callie likes her wine," Kiara said. 

“But you don’t,” Callie said to her, before breaking eye contact, “So, we should also get something that you like.”

"I mean, I've drank before,” Kiara pronounced, “And worst case, I don’t think the restaurant will mind if we don’t get a free drink.” 

“Looks like you can replace the wine with tea,” Amelia said, to her phone, “I, well, I might want to try some, but I also like tea.” 

“You know, I vote for that one," Ina said. She nodded. 

“Sure, the burgers there tasty,” Gura said, from around the side of Amelia’s arm. “Honestly, I’m okay with anything, and I primarily enjoy the camaraderie, so let's do it.” 

“Well, if everyone else wants to, sure,” Callie said. 

And on their way, Kiara tried to hold Callie’s hand again, and it took her wife two seconds to realize that she was still trying to pretend she didn’t want to.,

  
  
  
  
  


And then they arrived and got a table, and all started to check out menus full of photogenic foods that still tasted decent, but it was still one of those dining establishments whose business model was built more on spectacle. And alcohol sales too, like a lot of restaurants. 

"Oh," Callie said, a little dismayed, to the wine menu. 

"Oh, what is it, my wife?" Kiara said, "Not anything you like?" 

"No, it's just," Callie scrunched her mouth to the side, "There's two wines I've always wanted to try, here. Also, not your wife.” 

"Oh, you can just have mine," Kiara said. "Which one did you want me to order?"

"I- you don't have to do that," Callie said. "I don't even know if I can taste the difference between real wines, so don't go out of your way-" 

"No no, but I want tooo~" Kiara winked. 

"Well, in that case," Callie scrunched her mouth to the side, "I can, just, pay for your meal, to pay you back.” 

“Or you could just feed her some of your food,” Amelia said. 

“No way, I want my burger,” Callie said. 

Kiara smirked, "Aww, you want to make this a date?” 

"This isn't' a date!" Callie said. She gestured at their three friends, "We have three other people with us!" 

"I mean, it could be a date with three third wheels," Gura said. 

“If you’re paying for the other person it makes it a date, I’m pretty sure.” Amelia nodded with finality.

Callie folded her arms. “And- I was actually offering to pay for everyone, so jokes on you, Kusotori.” 

"Oh, no, I couldn't let you do that," Amelia said, with a familiar smile, "I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu.” 

"I meeaaan, if you want to pay for my food, I'll pay for your next date," Ina said. She also had a familiar smile. 

“And I don’t really eat a whole lot,” Gura said, “So I can handle mine. Plus Watson owes me lunch from that time we bet on-” she gleaned over at Callie, “That one thing.” 

Amelia opened her mouth, and then closed it. “You know, fine, but only because I know you eat a surprisingly little amount for an Apex predator.” 

“Well, in that case, if you insist on paying for me,” Kiara pretended she was trying to hide her smirk, ‘Then sure!” 

Callie smushed her lips together and nodded. “Alright, cool. This is a purely transactional thing, just so you know, this time. Don’t misunderstand what's happening here.”

Kiara understood perfectly. “Of course!” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gura puts on a square dance. Callie allows Kiara to dance with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guarantee no expertise in square dances or dancing in general.
> 
> I don’t remember what stream it was- maybe it was that marshmallow stream where Gura talked about where she’d take each of her gen mates out on a date? - where somebody said they could picture Callie begrudgingly allowing Kiara to dance with her to cover up actually wanting to. 

Gura sat on a stool at a stage and strummed a ditty on her banjo while Amelia did the calls for the dancing. The tutorial song was finishing up, and Callie was sitting next to Ina at one of the tables set up around the outskirts of the dance area. 

“It’s cool they got to use to stage and the dancehall for this,” Ina said. She had on a formal dress, but nothing too western-themed, since that wasn't strictly necessary. 

“Yeah, Amelia did a great job with the AV stuff,” Callie nodded. She herself had pulled out one of her nicer black dresses, and a Halloween cowboy hat (though not one as good as Gura’s) for the occasion. “And of course, Gura's doing a great job as always." 

Ina nodded. “Yes, Hail the shark.” 

And then the practice rounds finished, and their senpais and the random students broke off into pairs, and then into circles, who would dance 

“Soooo,” Ina stood up, “I’ll see if Nene-Senpai or Iofi-senpai want to dance,” Ina said, “But I'm probably going to get too tired to dance the whole time. Are you going to ask," Ina smiled, smugly, and glanced to the central crowd of people, "someone, to dance?" 

“Nooo,” Callie said. She twirled her glass of punch, idly, “This is cool and all but I don't think I'm, the type of person to do that sort of thing...." 

Ina continued her smirk, “Then, you're waiting for someone to ask you to dance?" 

Callie opened her mouth to sigh and feign ignorance, but then the point was made moot. 

“Callliiieeeeeeeeeeeeee-”

Kiara ran up, in a white rodeo suit, with her beret and chef-looking hat thing replaced by a flat Tuscan gambler and a white rolled cattleman, which also somehow didn’t fall off her head, “Callie Callie Callie-” 

“Guh!” Calliope flinched, 

“But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!” Kiara said. “Who knows when the next square dance we'll be able to go to will be?" 

“At least until Gura decides to do this again,” Ina said. 

"I-" Callie said, "I don't know how to square-dance, though." 

"Well then you should have joined for the tutorial section," Kiara said. "They're now doing real dances now." 

"Oh well, I guess I can't." Callie shrugged theatrically. 

"But Ame said the important thing is to have fun, and if you mess up just wait to join in when you're ready," Ina pointed out. Callie shot her a glare. 

Kiara grabbed Callie's hand, and Callie didn't find any reason to shake it off immediately. 

“But I got an outfit for this and everything~” Kiara said. 

Callie glanced at the wall. “Well, you do look cute. Just, objectively,” Callie pulled her hand back and coughed into it. “Don't-"

“Oh Callie~” 

“-Don’t get it twisted, I was going to say-” Callie said. She coughed into her hand again. “Anyone here would consider themselves lucky to dance with you." 

Kiara fluttered her eyelids, “But I only want you, Callie~" 

Calliope tried to silence her treacherous heart since it beating faster was just a physiological reaction. Yeah. 

"Kiara can probably give you the rundown," Ina said, "But that means you'll probably have to be Kiara's dance partner the whole time since she'll have to coach you the whole time." 

Callie shot Ina a glare. "Don't you have someone you need to let down gently?" 

Ina glanced over to the side, where a woman with orange-trim odango buns was standing next to some sort of clown. Ina refreshed her expression and marched over to pick one of them to dance with.

"Well," Callie turned back to Kiara, "I still think you'd have fun with someone who knows what she's doing, but okay. 

And Callie did her best to remember what each of the calls meant, and not literally drag her feet around when they moved back in forth in rhythm.

And it turned out only about 50% of any given dance was with your actual partner, and you had a little bit of time with a rotation of everyone else in your circle. 

She noticed that Ina had someone managed to assuage both of the people who had asked her to dance by, awkwardly, just having one in each hand and altering the dances for three people. 

  
The square dancing was a little difficult at first, and Callie spent most of the time looking at her feet- which on the upside meant, she didn't have to look at Kiara- but eventually, she found her stride, and maybe actually started having fun. 

And by the end, they were swinging each other around, and Kiara's joyous smile- closed eyes and opened mouthed as she laughed in joy- was infectious, and Callie found herself smiling too.

And when the final square dance was finished. Callie looked into Kiara's eyes as they both panted a little, and Callie pulled her and back and coughed into it. "This was fun." 

Kiara beamed. "I'm so glad you thought so!" 

  
And at the head of the dance floor, Gura gestured for Amelia to bring her the microphone she'd been using to call the dance changes. 

“Hello, hello hello hello,” Gura said, her voice laconic and softly intimate, into the mic, “Testing. Testing. A.” 

There was applause at that last bit.

Gura smiled a toothy smile, “Ah, you guys all like that, alright, alright. I know my reputation, don’t worry.” 

“And thanks for coming to this little shindig,” Gura strummed a g chord on her banjo, “‘And I mean it, it gives me the opportunity to say ‘shindig’ in all seriousness.” 

“And also in all seriousness, thanks for trying out something that’s probably very different from what you’re used to. But it's fun to move your body, and it's fun to hand out with friends, and it's also a good opportunity to hold hands in a socially sanctioned setting," Gura learned her had forward and winked. 

There was a smattering of laughter in the audience. Gura shield and shot finger guns to nobody in particular.

“So, for this last part, sometimes these sorts of shindigs have a slow dance section, and maybe that's not what but to quote a wise woman, it's my party, and I’ll do what I want." 

“Ahhh, a Jessie J fan, nice,” Amelia said. 

“Oh, did Jessie J say that?” Gura said, “I was thinking of Miley Cyrus.” she chuckled, “Well, it just goes to show it's a popular idea if lots of people say it, so I'm going to start ti off with 

And Gura stood up off her stool and put her ban banjo aside and Amelia set up a backing track, and Gura adjusted the microphone stand to sing a slow love ballad. 

  
Kiara lightly brushed Callie's arm. "Thank you," she said, and she made to walk away. 

"Wait-" Callie's hand reached out, embarrassingly, 

Over in the corner, Nene and Polka were tugging on Ina's arms, in different directions. Each of their school's notable power couples had paired off to hold each other and sway side to side and look into each other's eyes in longing and companionship into the nighttime dancefloor spotlights as a shark sang jazz. 

But also, some of the senpais she knew were just friends were also dancing together, so this was fine. It was only awkward if one of them made it awkward, and Callie never made it awkward. 

"Um," Gallie said to the ground, "There's one more dance, you know?" 

  
And Kiara squeed for half a second before she stopped herself, and she ran back up to Calliope- 

"So, do you know how to waltz?" Kiara said. 

"Um," Callie said, and this time she was pretty sure she was blushing just with embarrassment, "Can, you teach me that too?"


	8. Senpai Noticed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Callie and Kiara recieve attention from their Senpais.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, I mostly know about Marine, Susei, and Polka from random memes, clips and the times they've collabed with the HolyMyth streamers, so, heads up on some potential OCness. 
> 
> Inspired by the streams the relevant characters have interacted with their senpais, which I think was the two Amoung Us games Calliope did with the Japanese branch, and the times Kiara talked about meeting Marine.

It was the start of the free study period for the school day, and Callie found herself with Kiara just killing time in one of the empty classrooms. Theoretically, she had work to do, but none of it was pressing, so they both ended up chilling.

“Oh oh-" Kiara said, to her laptop, "Noel and Flare told me about this couples quiz- we should take it together!" 

“Uh, no, we’re not a couple,” Callie said, “And we’re not bored enough to do that," Callie looked at her own unfinished drawings, but Callie idly wished for some sort of distraction to appear-

  
  
  
  
  
  


And then there was the sound of the classroom door opening, and a girl in a burgundy pirate outfit showed up into the room. (Callie would have mixed feelings about her wish being granted in this way). 

“Oh, hello Marine-Senpai!” Kiara waved. 

“Ahoy!” Marine called to Kiara. “I saw you here and thought I’d say hi!” 

“Well, hi!” Kiara continued waving. "Hi hi hi!"

As Marine skipped up and reached her hands out towards Kiara, and Kiara stood up and held her hands out and they jumped in place as they held hands in greeting. 

And Callie ended up choking on her own air intake except she tried to cover up the usual ‘guh’ with a throat-clearing noise, which Marine must have interpreted as her trying to get her attention- 

“Good afternoon, Calliope-chan,” Marine nodded politely, towards her. 

“Hello Senpai,” Callie said. She nodded back, twice, “How have you been?” 

“Well,” Marine sat down and looked into the middle distance, “I’d been feeling less horny lately, which was very worrisome to me, I’m sure you know." 

“Ah,” Callie said. 

“But I just turned in a big project so I had that off my shoulders, and I also ended up,“ She smiled, “celebrating by impulse buying this BL manga I saw at my usual store. So it looks like it was all just work stress, after all." 

“Ah, that's, good?” Calliope said. She supposed that horniness was one of the notable things she knew about Marine-senpai, after the music and art and pirate theme. 

“That _is_ good!” Kiara said, “I’m glad you’re feeling more like yourself, 

Marine gave a soft smirk to the phoenix. “And I'm glad to be, Kiara-chan." 

And in the brief moment of downtime where Kiara was probably thinking of something to say, Marine struck. 

“Your hair really is so lovely,” Marine started running her fingers along the locks of Kiara's hair. "It's such a unique colour, and so soft.” 

Kiara inhaled sharply, and glanced to the wall, "Oh! Thank you. My secret is I wash it with gravy." 

And Marine's hand drifted lower to, idly, gently, between her thumb and forefingers, rub Kiara's head feathers that hung almost exactly where earrings would be. "And your feathers! You really are majestic." 

"Yeah, I used to have a lot more, but in this form, they're the only ones," Kiara said, a little softly. She tilted her face down. 

And Callie ended up choking on her own air intake again, but this time it sounded like she was gagging-

Kiara snapped out of whatever trance she appeared to have been in. "Oh, Callie-" And then her eyes narrowed and she smiled annoyingly, "You're not jealous about me getting attention from our attractive senpais, are you?" 

"What? No!" Callie said, more quickly than she intended to, "Why would I be?" 

Kiara hid a chuckle behind her fingertips, "You have nothing to worry about, though- you know I'm very invested in our relationship~" 

"Guh! We're not a couple!" Callie said, "And if you want to- want to, get, attention," She felt her cheeks heat up for some reason, "from other people, that's fine with me, too." 

"That's a very modern sensibility you have, Calliope-chan," Marine said. 

"Well," Kiara touched her collarbone, "I'm still committed to you~"

Marine theatrically gasped. “Kiara-chan! Do you like Callie more than me?” 

Kiara scrunched her mouth to the side and shrunk into her shoulders, slightly. “I- I really admire you, Marine-senpai, but Callie’s still my number one-” 

Marine chuckled and waved the air. “I’m joking. You don't have anything to worry about from me. I’m not a lesbian anymore."

Callie blinked. 

“I mean, have you seen how much yaoi I consume?” Marine theatrically brought her hand to her collarbone, "I'm just surrounded by incredibly beautiful, extremely talented young women, all the time, many of which like showing tons of cleavage-"

Callie idly noted that she fit into that last category. 

"And a lot of which I end up drawing, sometimes in suggestive positions." Marine nodded.

"Oh! speaking of that-" Kiara then opened her backpack to procure some pieces of paper with sketches on them, "Could I ask you some of your advice about drawing?" 

  
  
  
  


And for the next half hour or so, Kiara managed to keep the discussion mostly about drawing- 

And idly, Calliope noted that this was a great opportunity to practice her drawing skills too - and also it'd be good to know Marine in general since she was one of the members of the talent program that had released music- but for some reason, she felt it really important to work on her own things, in the corner- and to try to ignore all the flirtatious remarks Marine managed to incorporate into a regular drawing lesson. 

And at one point, when Kiara was demonstrating some line strokes, Marine gently wrapped her hand over Kiara's, to demonstrate her own technique- 

And Callie found herself again wishing very hard for some sort of distraction to appear- 

And then, again, there was the sound of the classroom door opening-

“Ina!” Callie said, and she found herself standing up. Which she covered up by stretching her back and then walking over to her friend. 

Ina nodded as she visibly looked over the three members of the classroom. "Gura and Amelia are both gone?” 

"Yeah, I think they're playing _Smash Bros_ in the bathroom-" Callie escorted Ina back to the table. 

“So how have you been?” Callie said, “How are things, and your, art,” She pontificated in a way that didn’t add clarity to her statements. 

Ina nodded. "Pretty well-" 

"So do you know Marine-senpai?" Callie gestured, vaguely, to the pirate. 

“Humu,” Ina nodded, twice, “But only by reputation. I really admire the drawings you do, Senpai.” 

Callie smiled. "And Marine-senpa-"

"You're just how I imagined you," Marine breathed. She looked over Ina, twice, and let her mouth hang open, slightly. "I've seen the art you've done so far- it’s almost as beautiful as you are.” 

And with just a little ping of guilt, Callie whispered an "I'm sorry," and she gently guided Ina into a seat besides Marine-senpai, and then took a seat between her and Kiara. 

Ina, for her credit, took it in stride. “Well, I’m still improving.” 

"And your tentacles," Marine reached out to twirl around her finger one of the multitudes of hideous tentacles that wriggled and writhed with the blasphemous undulations of the shadows of the glimpses of the untold tenebrous depths, that sprouted from the void behind Ina’nis’s back. “You drew the patterns on these yourself?” 

Ina nodded. "Yeah, my designer tentacles? I get bored sometimes, so over the years I’ve managed to decorate all of them.” 

“That’s how you know you’ve got the heart of an artist,” Marine said. “The willingness to do tedious work for long periods of time.” 

“Oh, Ina,” Kiara said, “We’re actually talking about art- do you want to share art tips too?” 

And then Kiara turned to face her, and Callie tried to look as unfazed as Ina did. 

“And I notice you’re sitting here too, Callie my love~” Kiara fluttered her eyelids, “Do you want to join in too?” 

“It’s- well, if everyone's doing it,” Callie said, to the wall, “I might as well.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


And the very next day, Callie and Kiara ended up having an impromptu hangout with a group of their Senpais in their usual study room. 

And after the introductions and ice breakers- and right after Kiara left for an Idol meeting- Callie found herself at the center of attention. 

A girl in a plaid shirt with a beret, crown, and bow in her blue hair clung to Callie’s left arm. “You know, your voice is really sexy.” 

“Ah. I have been, told this,” Callie said, as diplomatically as possible.” 

“And you know,” said some sort of clown hanging off of Callie’s right arm, “You give off such a strong vibe. I’ve always wanted to marry a woman just like you~” 

“Ah,” Callie said. She leaned her head back and made a grimace. “Is that, so?” 

Yesterday, Callie figured that Kiara was just weak to compliments in general, but now she realized that either she had the exact same weakness or maybe it was just really hard to . Or maybe all their senpais were just, extremely irresistible-

“I'm sure you’re heart is beautiful,” Susei-senpai continued. She licked her lips. 

“Ah.” Callie said, “I, am not actually sure I have a heart, you know, since I'm a Shinigami…" 

“What’s your favorite instrument?” Polka-senpai said, “I can accompany you during, sometime?" 

And then suddenly, just as Callie was wishing yet again for a distraction, a familiar orange head with two hats appeared, and then appeared very close-

“Noooooo-” Kiara yelled, as she barreled into Callie. She pulled her away from the senpais. “She’s miiinneeeee~”

Kiara clutched Calliope’s head to her chest, and Callie realized she had felt relief, at seeing Kusotori, and being held by her-

And maybe, she didn’t have to immediately escape...

“Susei-Senpai,” Kiara said, “Isn’t Callie a little completely different than your usual targets?”

Susei stepped back. “What? Who told you that? What do you mean by this? It’s all lies.” 

“And Polka-senpai,” Kiara shook her head and tutted, “Weren’t you just after Ina the other day?” 

Polka-senpai’s smile left everywhere but her mouth, giving her the appearance of some sort of - which Callie supposed was entirely appropriate for a clown. “I think she likes Nene more. Aren’t I allowed to look for love, until I find it?” 

“Of course you are!” Kiara said, “Just not with Callie, because she’s already  _ my _ wife.” 

“Guh- we’re not-” Callie gently pushed Kiara off of her- “We’re not married!” 

“See? She’s up for grabs,” Susei-senpai said.

“So which one of us do you like best, Callie-chan?” Polka-senpai said. 

“N-none of you,” Callie said. She refreshed her expression and then folded her arms and closed her eyes. “But its a 'me' thing, not a 'you' thing, since you all seem cool-” 

“So that means we’re all able to try to win your affections?” Susei-senpai’s signature grin returned. 

“I- don’t, um,” Callie rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t, think I’d be receptive, but I’m not going to tell you what to do….” 

“So what are you doing Saturday?” Polka asked. 

Callie opened her mouth, and then tried to think of an excuse, and then realized she didn’t actually know what she was doing on the weekend-

“Oh, she’s already doing stuff with me,” Kiara said. She pulled out her phone. 

Callie scrunched her mouth to the side and tried to remember. That sounded entirely plausible. “But- but its friend things, surely.” 

“Well if you’re doing friend things with Kiara, do you want to do friend things with me or Polka?” Susei said. “Even if it isn't at the same time?"

Callie opened her mouth, and then closed her mouth, and for a fourth time wished for a sudden distraction, and for a fourth time it was granted, and she started wondering if she actually had some magic power she was wasting on avoiding social situations-

  
  


There was the sound of the classroom door opening, and Gura tucked her phone back into her pocket before sliding in sideways, bending her knees and spreading her arms out as she did. “sHaaaak~” she said, with her usual affect.

And there was 2 seconds of pause before everyone in the room- save for Callie and Kiara- swarmed around the shark-girl, gushing about how cute she was. 

Gura nodded towards Kiara before she was overwhelmed in the wave of senpais gushing about how cute she was. 

Kiara grabbed her’s and Callie’s stuff and then Callie’s hand and started pulling her towards the exit, but she waved one last time at Gura. “Gura! I’ll never forget you~!” 

Callie touched her forehead with her free hand. “Don’t- don’t be so melodramatic-”

And Gura raised a thumbs up to the sky as she slowly was overrun by the affections of high school girls. 

  
  
  
  
  


Once they were in the halls, aways away from the classroom, Kiara let go of Callies's hand and rubbed the back of her head and looked at the wall. “You don't- you don’t have to hang out with me this Saturday, if you don’t want. I just figured it might have gotten them off your case….” 

“I- well, I don’t see any reason not to,” Calliope said, to the opposite wall. She coughed. “It could be fun.”

Kiara’s mood immediately elevated. 

“But-” Callie immediately raised her arms-

Kiara smiled. “‘Don't’ get the wrong Idea’, yeah yeah.” 

Callie nodded and cleared her throat. “Okay, yeah, good.” 

  
  
  


They walked down the hallway back to another study room, to set up for what would theoretically be work, but since none of it was pressing, they both ended up chilling.

“So, what should we do while we wait for Gura to escape?” Kiara said. 

“Um,” Callie said. She rubbed the back of her head. “Do you, still have that couple’s quiz?”

**Author's Note:**

> Longer first chapter, to establish expectations. Ongoing updates will likely just be one scene.


End file.
